Funding boost for language mentoring project

A project to raise the profile of modern foreign languages has received extended funding from Welsh Government to reach pupils in rural parts of Wales.

Launched in 2015, the Modern Foreign Languages Student Mentoring project places undergraduates from Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor and Aberystwyth universities into local schools to mentor pupils and encourage them to consider modern foreign languages when choosing their GCSE options.

The mentoring project is funded by Welsh Government and is part of its Global Futures plan which aims to improve and promote the take up of modern foreign languages in schools in Wales.

Over the last two years the mentoring scheme has had a significant impact on partner schools who have reported an increase in pupils choosing languages at GCSE as well as improved motivation to continue learning languages and to consider university.

A new digital platform

Capitalising on the project’s success, Welsh Government is now extending the project to include a new digital platform to extend its reach to schools and pupils who have not been able to engage with the project due to geographical location. This is a significant milestone for the scheme, allowing pupils in remote or rural areas to connect digitally with student mentors. The Welsh Government is investing a further £140,000 for the third year of the project.

Heads of Modern Language Schools from the four partner universities recently met with Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams AM, to discuss new developments and how learning modern foreign languages could be further integrated into the school curriculum.

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams said: “I am pleased to extend the funding for the modern foreign languages student mentoring project, due to its success and contribution towards our aim of increasing the number of young people choosing to study modern foreign languages...”

“We are currently creating an exciting new curriculum for Wales and I am delighted that the universities want to work with us to consider how modern foreign languages can be further integrated within the curriculum.”

“The building blocks of language learning”

Professor Claire Gorrara, academic lead for the mentoring project and Professor of French in the School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University said: “We are thrilled to be able to extend the reach of the student mentoring scheme by way of the new digital platform. We hope to connect with new cohorts of pupils through the platform who will now have the same opportunities that their peers in other schools have experienced during the last two years...”

“Introducing children to the building blocks of language learning at an early age is central to developing better awareness of other cultures and societies and as Wales and the UK approaches negotiations over exiting the EU this carries even greater importance for Wales’ future.”